


Sandbrook Beds

by n2natalie



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Alec Hardy Gets A Hug, Alec Hardy Needs A Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feelings, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21656242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n2natalie/pseuds/n2natalie
Summary: I saw @teashoesandhair on tumblr post a writing exercise they did where they wrote completely without the letter "i".So, this is the night Hardy and Miller share a bed in Sandbrook, complete with Alec's nightmares and Ellie's comfort, all without the letter "i".
Relationships: Alec Hardy/Ellie Miller
Comments: 11
Kudos: 85





	Sandbrook Beds

She fell asleep on her back, taut and uncomfortable, her body analogous to her thoughts. They allowed her no movement, no chance to unsettle the tenuous atmosphere. Next to her boss, well, ex-boss, the warmth emanated from the body next to her. So unknown and so unwelcome, but somehow an odd comfort.

She lost herself to sleep eventually, floated through dreams of warm cottages, blue sweaters, old tea, and no fear, but a strangled choke and a thrash of addled movement pulled her from her fantasy. Next to her, Hardy spluttered and coughed, choked out fragments of words as he struggled for breath. The maternal part of her took charge promptly, and she placed a hand on the unsteady shoulder nearest to her. Even turned away, she nonetheless felt the tenseness of the muscles at her touch, but she held her hand there.

“Hardy,” she mumbled, volume low and, she hoped, gentle. Fear crept around the edges of her thoughts, but she pushed on. She could feel the heartbeats, fast and uneven, but there and under control. Fears quelled a tad, she murmured the name once more and shook harder.

He rolled over slowly to face upwards, breaths ragged and shallow, eyes squeezed shut from hurt and effort.

“Hardy, are you okay?” she asked carefully.

“’M good, ‘m good,” he managed between gasps. “Go back to sleep.” But as he uttered the words, he lost composure, and the tears he’d attempted to hold back came forth, and a ragged, unwelcome cry broke free. He shuddered under her touch, and soundless tears soon turned to sobs.

She felt tense and awkward, torn between her alarm and her adept tendency to let Hardy be, but as the tears came faster, she let her concerns take over.

On a hunch, she chanced, “You’re safe, Hardy. Only a dream. You’re okay. You’re okay.”

She’d remembered the story he’d told her about Sandbrook, how he’d found the body, how he’d nearly drowned. She’d remembered the reluctance he’d shown to go on the water to look at Mark’s boat. The statement he’d made about the Sandbrook case, how he’d taken the fall for Tess. How the case had torn Hardy’s home apart. No doubt where the heart problems had begun. Only natural that he would dream about that.

“No, no, not a dream. Just… just my heart, just- “, he broke off. But contrary to Hardy’s protests, she knew she was correct.

She grabbed the other shoulder and pulled as she fell back to lay down herself. To her shock, he gave rather effortlessly and rolled towards her. She led Hardy’s head down to rest on her chest and curled her arm to run through the mop of auburn she now found under her nose. He wrapped around her torso, legs thrown over hers, and nestled further to her. He clutched at her pajamas, and, through all her memory, she could not remember a moment where even Tom had broken down as such. She felt her eyes well up, but forced the tears back, saved them for another moment.

When Hardy eventually calmed, and tears no longer soaked through her top, he took a shaky breath, and as he exhaled, managed a weak “Thank you”. Hardy was rarely an earnest man, so she was taken aback, rather moved really, by those words. Her chest tensed, and she could no longer hold back her tears; she let them roll soundlessly down her face. Hardy made no attempt to move, and she had no need to let go. She hadn’t felt the beat of another heart, the movement of someone’s chest as they breathed, pressed to hers, for months. The presence calmed her, more than she was happy to confess, and her tears soon calmed, her eyes heavy. They fell asleep that way, Hardy curled around her and her gaze glued to the darkness above.


End file.
